Welcome to Sword Art Online
by Rave Rose of Twilight
Summary: A young man by the name of Minato Hirashi purchases one of many hard copies of Sword Art Online. His friends, a pair of Beta Testers, died teaching him and helping him after Kayaba Akihiko's announcement at the hands of a pair of PKers. With a Unique Skill unlocked and a dream he plans on making a reality, will Minato make it to the 100th Floor and save everyone or will he fall?


**Welcome to Sword Art Online**

**Written By: Rave Rose of Twilight**

**Warning: I don't own SAO, but I do claim ownership of my original characters. If you wish to use them, message me first for permission. Please?**

Chapter Zero: Prologue

Today was the day. A new game on the NerveGear technology, both designed by the famous designer from Argus Industries, had been released today and two of his best friends, Beta Testers of the game, had invited him to their group they were planning to form on Day One to teach him the ropes. He was a bit disappointed that he couldn't join the Closed Beta, but he knew a couple of good people who would help him out.

As he put on his NerveGear helmet, a screen popped up in front of his eyes. "Link start."

[Head Link: Check]

[Body Link: Check]

[Hands Link: Check]

[Legs Link: Check]

[Full Body Check: Complete]

[Welcome to Sword Art Online. Please input your Sceen Name and Password now.]

The young boy typed on the keyboard.

[Screen Name: Agathor]

[Password:********]

[New User Detected. Registering New User. Registration Complete.]

The screen faded to black before shooting blue lights spiraled through his vision. Within moments, he felt himself lose consciousness. Minutes later, the young man was opening his jet black eyes before looking over his body. He looked down at his feet, covered in basic, low level leather shoes before bringing his hands to his sight and flexing them reflexively. His hands were wrapped in fingerless leather gloves that offered little protection.

He ran his hands through his short red hair and took a deep breath before releasing it. Here he was...in the hit VRMMORPG known as Sword Art Online.

In the Town of Beginnings.

Looking around as more and more players began to appear in the game, the young man spotted a pair that looked familiar. Running over to the Armor Shop, where players could buy newer, stronger armor for a certain amount of Col, the currency used in SAO.

"Hey, Leviathin! Hey, Kagemaru," he shouted, his voice coming out somewhat deep with a youthful ring to it. The two men he shouted to looked back in surprise before smiling and waving at him.

"Hey, Agathor," Leviathin, a young man with a somewhat muscular physique, silver hair, and seafoam green eyes, shouted to him. On his back was an iron Two-Handed Battle Axe and he wore leather armor with light metal gauntlets. "How are you finding SAO?"

Agathor chuckled. "It's pretty cool so far. Just got registered and everything. I haven't even gotten to check out the features."

"Well, let's get your starting skills sorted out," Kagemaru, a man wearing black light metal armor with a sword and shield on his back, stated. "Go to your character screen. Select Skills. And click on one of your empty skill slots. You should have four to start off with, but seeing as how you didn't do the Beta, you won't be able to get as much out of the armor-related skills until you make enough money to buy a decent set or get one during a quest."

"Well, seeing as I planned on making my character a heavy hitter, I planned on going with [Two-Handed Battle Axe]," Agathor stated to himself before setting his first skill. "I'd like to work on [Sprint[ to move faster from place to place and [Parry] to block seeing as how a shield wouldn't do me much good with a two-handed weapon. And I'll leave the fourth skill slot empty until I can get a decent piece of armor."

With that Agathor went over to his equipment bar and selected a Bronze Greataxe as his first weapon before watching the other choices disappear from his inventory. He pulled the equipped item from his back and gave it a few practice swings before replacing it.

Leviathin just looked over at his younger twin and grinned, knowing that he had influenced his friend's choice the most of the two of them. "Now that the skill selection is over, let's teach you how your skills work and about Sword Skills."

A little bit later, Agathor had been led to a small area outside of the Town of Beginnings and was staring down a Frenzy Boar, his greataxe held in front of him similar to how one holds a katana or a sword.

"Performing a Sword Skill requires a lot of concentration," Leviathin told him. "Focus on your body. You should feel a strange sensation build up in your body. When you feel that sensation, let it explode from you as you move. Got it?"

"Sensation in my body," Agathor stated. His eyes were narrowed on the Frenzy Boar and a surge of power filled his body. "Then let it EXPLODE!" With that shout, he charged the boar far faster than someone would expect. "[Cleave]!"

With a powerful overhead swing downward onto the Boar, it didn't even have time to react before letting out a pained squeal and shattering into dozens of pixels. A screen popped up.

[Congratulations!]

[EXP Earned: 24]

[Col Earned: 30]

[Item(s) Found: 1x Frenzy Boar Tusk]

Kagemaru and Leviathin both looked happy that their friend was making such quick progress in the game. Then again, he had played dozens of MMORPGs before this came out, so he knew, on some level, what to do and what to expect when he logged into SAO. "Way to go," Kagemaru congratulated. "Let's keep this up for a bit until you've made enough money for some decent armor."

A Few Hours Later...

After killing many Frenzy Boars, Agathor had finally managed to hit Level 2 and get about a quarter of the way to Level 3. Opening up his skills page, he scrolled through to see how good his skills had gotten so far.

[Name: Agathor]

[Two-Handed Battle Axe: 52/1000]

[Sprint: 27/1000]

[Parry: 10/1000]

[Col: 1500]

Agathor nodded to himself before closing out his screen. Looking up at the Game Clock hanging overhead, he saw that it was getting late. "Hey, guys. It's getting kinda late and I'm sure Gramps is already home with dinner made. I'm gonna go ahead an log out for today."

"No big, Agathor," Leviathin stated. "Our parents and sister are probably home too. We'll log back on tomorrow morning and party up again."

[Leviathin wants to add you to his friends list.]

[Accept/Refuse]

[Kagemaru wants to add you to his friends list.]

[Accept/Refuse]

Agathor accepted both requests and proceeded to log out, but froze by what he saw...

...or rather, what he didn't see.

"Guys, I don't see the Log Out button," Agathor said out loud.

"Strange," muttered Leviathin. "Neither do I. Maybe it's some kind of flaw. A bug in the system. It was there during the Beta."

"Weird," whispered Kagemaru. The sound of a bell echoed across the entire first floor and everyone began to disappear and reappear in the town square of the Town of Beginnings. "What the hell?! A forced teleport!?"

As soon as what they believed to be every single player in the game had been teleported to the town square, a crimson backdrop surrounded the area and blood began to leak from the ceiling before forming into a giant person wearing long crimson robes and white gloves.

"Attention, players," the figure spoke. "Welcome to my world. My name is Kayaba Akihiko. As of this moment, I am the sole person who can control this world."

By now, everyone was looking up in awe or with worried expressions on their faces and were whispering to one another.

"I'm sure you've already noticed that the Log Out button is missing from the main menu. But this is not a defect in the game. I repeat. This is not a defect in the game. This is a feature of Sword Art Online," Kayaba stated.

By now, more than a few people were beginning to show signs of freaking out.

"You cannot log out of SAO yourselves. And no one on the outside can shut down or remove the NerveGear. Should this be attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will emit a powerful microwave, destroying your brain and thus ending your life."

Agathor's hands began to shake. What the hell was wrong with this madman?! Was he holding so many people hostage just for kicks?! Several more people seemed to be in the same boat as him and began to freak out.

"Unfortunately, several players' friends and family have ignored this warning, and have attempted to remove the NerveGear. As a result, 213 players are gone forever, from both Aincrad and the real world."

"As you can see," he said plainly while windows popped up around him featuring news stories about the deaths of so many players, "news orginizations across the globe are reporting all of this, including the deaths. Thus, you can assume that the dangers of a NerveGear being removed are minimal. I hope you will relax and attempt to clear the game. But I want you to remember this clearly. There is no longer any method to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, then your avatar will be forever lost. Simultaneously, the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

"There is only one means of escape. To complete the game. You are currently on the lowest level in Aincrad. Floor 1. If you make your way through the dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may advance to the next level. Defeat the final boss on Floor 100 and you will clear the game."

By now, everyone was ready to panic. How could they not? They were being held hostage in a death game and forced to fight for their lives!

"I've added a present from me to your item storage," Kayaba said flatly. "Please see for yourselves."

Agathor nodded and pulled up his inventory before seeing a strange item. "Mirror?"

Pulling it out, Agathor looked into it and saw his avatar's reflection. It didn't take long for everyone to start disappearing in a blue light until the whole town square was bathed in a blue light. When the light died down, everyone was looking around at one another. More than a few of the women had been turned into men.

"Minato," someone called from behind him. Agathor spun around and looked to his two traveling companions only to see that their avatars had changed to how they really looked in the real world. They were twins in the real world and their avatars weren't that much different than their actual selves.

"Koga? Nagato," Minato/Agathor asked. "What happened to your avatars?"

"We should ask you the same question," Koga/Kagemaru asked.

Minato looked down into the mirror and saw that he too had his avatar change. His red hair was a bit longer, but was still considered short by most standards. His eyes didn't change color. But his height. He now stood at around 5' 7'' instead of the 6' tall he set his avatar as.

"Why the hell am I short," Minato cried out, shattering his mirror on the ground. Anime tears fell from his black eyes. "Just once, I want to be tall!"

"Right now, you're probably wondering 'Why?' Why would Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do all of this? My goal has already been achieved. I created Sword Art Online for one reason. To create this world and intervene in it. And now, it is complete. This ends the tutorial for the official Sword Art Online launch. Good luck, players."

Within moments, the figure known as Kayaba Akihiko began to disolve and disappear. By now, everything had returned to normal and the barrier that was keeping everyone inside had disappeared with Kayaba. "Minato," whispered Nagato/Leviathin. "Let's move."

Without hesitation, Minato followed Koga and Nagato outside of the Town of Beginnings. "We've got to head to the next town. Everyone is going to stick around here and pick the fields clean. If we can make it to the next town, even at Level 2, we know a few easy quests that shell out good gear and EXP. It shouldn't take us long to get up to Level 5. By then, we can easily head to the dungeon to level up and map out the area. There are nine levels to each floor in the dungeons before we can reach the Floor Boss."

Minato nodded and went with his friends, determined to survive this world and clear the game.

Within a few hours, Minato, Koga, and Nagato had arrived in a local fishing village, where Minato purchased a Fishing Rod and a full set of Light Leather Armor for a total of 950 Col. Money well spent, he reminded himself. Minato and his friends had grinded against any monster that came their way on the path to the fishing village they had gotten to and managed to hit level 4 together while teaching him about how to fight in a party and Switching.

Before long, they got their hands on a quest known as Secret Medicine of the Forest from an NPC. It was a fairly low level quest, but the reward was supposed to be pretty good. A high-quality sword known as the Anneal Blade. As they approached the area with the most Little Nepents they could find, they began to systematically kill them while avoiding striking any Little Nepents with fruit on them, knowing that doing so would result in a mass swarm of Little Nepents.

Over the next thirty minutes, not a single Little Nepent with a flower appeared, showing just how rare it was. Minato had just hit level 5 when a couple of other players saw that they were on the same quest as they were. "Well, look at what we have here," called one of the players. He had long blond hair and red eyes with a curved sword on his hip. "What do you think? Should we give them a hand?"

The other player chuckled darkly. He had black hair and eyes and carried a one-handed axe on his hip. "Yeah. I don't see why not."

Koga and Nagato saw what was about to happen, but before they could shout out a warning, the one with the curved sword cut the fruit of one of the Little Nepents and watched as it released a noxious odor that filled the area. Blue lights, signaling a mass spawning, began to appear out of nowhere while the two who hit the fruit ran to hide, leaving the trio as the targets of the swarm spawn.

"Damn it," shouted Koga, as he proceeded to dispatch the monsters left and right. "Player Killers?! This soon into the game?!"

"When faced with death, people will not hesitate to do what they think they can get away with. In this game where death is almost certain, people who take pleasure in PKing others will always try to take advantage. They are little more than murderers taking advantage of our situation," Nagato growled as he dispatched another Little Nepent.

"[Cleave]," Minato shouted, clearing away five Nepents in one swing. However, with every one they dispatched, five more seemed to spawn. Every now and then, one of them would get hit, taking a small chunk out of their HP. After an hour of fighting off Nepents, Minato was down to 1% of his HP while Koga was at 26% and Nagato was at 14%. Somehow, during the fight, about three Nepents with flowers had spawned and were killed. Now, the area was free of monsters, but all three of them were too tired to fight any more. The two PKers walked up to the trio with cocky smirks on their faces.

"Looks like you guys did all the work for us," the axe weilder stated before drawing his weapon. His curved sword partner did the same. "After we kill you guys, we can turn in the quest and get that rare sword."

The axe in his hands flew quickly toward Koga, who smiled sadly at Minato and whispered to him. "Sorry," he said before pixilating into nothingness. Minato watched as the axe weilder's name turned orange.

"Koga," Minato whispered before watching the guy with the curved sword strike down his other friend, Nagato, with a swift critical blow. "Nagato."

The two were now standing in front of Minato with wicked grins. "I guess this just ain't your lucky day, kid."

Minato, for the first time in his life, felt fear take hold of his heart. Both of his friends had just been killed. He was about to die. Here. His sister. His parents. They were all probably waiting for him to wake up from this nightmare. Then...his fear turned into something different. Something...foreign to him.

Rage.

Pure, unbridled rage coursed through his veins. They killed his friends. They threatened to kill him. To take him from his loved ones. All he could see was red when he felt his hand latch onto Nagato's Iron Greataxe before he stood up shakily. His red bangs covered his eyes and a crimson aura radiated from his body.

The two Player Killers looked on with sneers. Did this kid actually think he could beat them? With 1% of his health left?! Rediculous!

That was...until the Iron Greataxe cleaved the curved sword carrier in half with a single strike and a roar.

"Genji," the axe weilder shouted to his dead friend. "You little punk!"

He tried to lash out at Minato with his axe, but it was parried and he felt the pain of an axe pass through his left arm, completely removing it from his body along with his weapon.

He screamed in pain. How could he feel pain?! SAO was supposed to prevent others from feeling pain?! He looked to his own HP gague and saw he was down to about 25% and it was falling quickly due to the bleed damage from losing his arm. He fell back and began to try and crawl away, but the axe severed his left leg, sending another wave of pain through his body.

"Stop," he begged. "Please! We...we just wanted the rare sword! You need to understand!"

"Understand," Minato ground out. "I need...to understand? Understand what? That you and your friend MURDERED MY FRIENDS FOR A STUPID FUCKING RARE SWORD?! THEY HAD FRIENDS AND FAMILIES TO RETURN TO! THEY HAD DREAMS THEY WANTED TO ACHIEVE IN THE REAL WORLD! AND YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SAY I NEED TO UNDERSTAND YOUR REASONS? YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM THEM FOR A STUPID GAME WHERE EVERYONE IS DYING JUST TO TRY AND SURVIVE!"

"I'm sorry," he cried. "We didn't think Kayaba was being serious about this being a death game!"

"Sorry," Minato asked. "No. You're not sorry. You're pathetic. The news is spreading out there that people who play this game, who die in this game, are dying in real life. And right now, you are little more than a murderer."

Minato began to walk away as several Nepents showed up around the immobile Player Killer. His screams echoed through the forest until they stopped. A screen popped up in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations! You as the soul survivor of your party being killed by Player Killers with 1HP left. You have unlocked the Unique Skill [Berserker].]

Another screen popped up in front of his eyes.

[Congratulations! You have leveled up! You are now Level 6!]

[Congratulations!]

[EXP Earned: 10,342]

[Col Earned: 23,150]

Minato nodded to himself and walked back to the NPC to turn in the quest. He received three Anneal Blades because he had killed all three Flower Nepents with the intention of giving one to both of his friends, but that wasn't going to happen any more.

He was now standing at Level 7 and was about ¾ of the way to Level 8. Opening his Skills List, he saw where he was as far as leveling his skills.

[Two-Handed Battle Axe: 122/1000]

[Sprint: 47/1000]

[Parry: 27/1000]

[Leather Equipment: 243/1000]

[Unique Skill: Berserker: 9/1000]

He highlighted his Unique Skill and clicked More Info.

[Berserker]

[Unique Passive Skill]

[Damage Received is reduced by 50% and Strength is increased by 25%. Player enters Rage, drawing monster's attention to the player and makes it difficult to stop fighting. Inactive outside of combat or when health is over 25%. Upon deactivation, Player will feel fatigue for half the time the skill was active. The longer the skill is activated, the faster Berserker will level up. The higher the level, the more in control the Player becomes during his Rage.]

"So that's why I felt so tired when I was walking away," Minato mumbled to himself. [Berserker] was a powerful skill, but he would need another skill to offset it, but [Battle Healing] couldn't be unlocked until Level 10. His next stop was back to the fishing village to rent a room at the inn for the night. Tomorrow, he was going to start heading into the dungeon to grind up to level 10, maybe more if he could find strong monsters.

He needed to get stronger. To become a hero and reach the 100th Floor to beat the Final Floor Boss and clear the game, freeing everyone from the madman's grasp. After he escaped, he would visit the graves of his two fallen friends and pay his respects properly.


End file.
